Mike Boyer turns to the crowd outside, showing off the 4 grams of marijuana he bought as the first in line to legally purchase marijuana at Spokane Green Leaf, Tuesday, July 8, 2014, in Spokane, Wash. (Dan Pelle, The Spokesman-Review)

The strange tale of Spokane’s first weed buyer: Fired, then rehired

Boyer was riding a soaring crest when he was excitedly the first buyer of legal marijuana in Spokane on July 8. A KREM-TV crew even followed him home to film him as he cracked open his bag of legal weed and smoked up — bonus.

But Boyer hit a new low when he learned that one of his employers had seen the televised broadcast and wanted him to submit a drug test. As the story quickly went viral, even the New York Daily News picked up on Boyer’s plight in the Pacific Northwest.

According to NBC News, a TrueBlue spokeswoman said there was a misunderstanding about Boyer’s work schedule that led to the request for a drug test.

“When we realized that he was not on assignment, we reinstated him. … Pot is legal, and we know that,” Stacey Burke said.

That’s not to say Boyer couldn’t have pursued a career in the marijuana industry. National cannabis jobs website 420careers.com issued a press release July 11 saying it had reached out to Boyer offering to help with his job hunting.

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